According to Gartner, indirect PC sales will continue to grow to account for 80% of worldwide PC shipments by 2012. The indirect channel accounted for 66.6 % worldwide PC shipments in 2004, and it grew to account for 74.3 % of shipments in 2008.
The direct sales channel is still showing customer preference in certain segments such as enterprise, government, and education and some professional segments in mature markets, said Tiffani Bova, research VP at Gartner. However, strong consumer and SOHO market growth will lead to consistent growth for the retail channel.
Bova said telecom retailers will also begin to play a much more active role as a viable mobile PC channel, especially with mini-notebooks that are being bundled with remote access (3G contracts) in Western Europe, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the U.S.
Gartner said that the expanding indirect channel will be driven by strong growth of products focused on the home and small and midsize (SMB) customers in both mature and emerging markets that show a preference for purchasing via indirect channels.